Mr. Perfect smiling after he tosses the towel on to Hughes sums up exactly why he’s been one of my favorite wrestlers for the past 30+ years. Dude always made everything look so cool and effortless, even when he was a heel it was impossible to not look up to him as a kid.
I loved his promos with pro athletes where he'd hit a homer, a three pointer, high dive, bowl a perfect game, throw a touchdown pass to himself. Absolutely perfect.
We want to believe these guys are legit. Not hype, not a work or a role. Curt Hennig made it easy to believe that pro wrestlers might very well be some of the best athletes in the world.
Hit man, perfect and owen hart were one of the best,to name a few,what this profession had to offer! Todays wrestling feels diffrent and wrestlers like them are rare in todays buisness!
I still to this day maintain that it's a shame Mr. Perfect never got a serious shot at carrying the world title. I think he would've been a much better champion than the likes of Sid, Vader, and Diesel.
Perfect vs Hitman could've been a multi year- multiple match feud similar to Flair/steamboat and it should've been for the WWF title. My opinion anyways
@@paulklein2940 In a roundabout way, it was good booking (but only because Bret made it good). There's a difference between being put away by a finisher and just plain outwrestled. Sadly, this has been overdone as the schoolboy roll up and small package are the most devastating moves in wrestling these days. It worked for Bret here, because his style was all about technical proficiency and that's the story he could tell. Having a submission move for his finisher helped, too. As an audience, there's a difference between kicking out of a high impact finisher, and wriggling out of a fancy looking hold. Sharpshooter never looked weak when Bret couldn't lock it in; his opponents just looked like they reacted in time before it was too late. So trick pins and reversals also made sense from the narrative since Brett was getting tired and his opponents were taking advantage of his injuries.
And 3 completely different finishes: 1) Countering Razor's back suplex in mid-move and falling on top (2) A reversed small package against Perfect and (3) The victory roll against Bigelow. Imagane if he won with the Sharpshooter all 3 times, it would have less of an impact.
I remember thinking that was so cool the night of the ppv 😂 I was convinced that Perfect, Tatanka, or Luger was gonna win...cause they were all undefeated, had to be one lol
Every wrestling fan knows Hogan was and is a world-class prick. He always cared more about hogging his spot than the good of the company or the other guys in the locker room. Bret wasn't the first or the last in the guys Hogan screwed over.
@@ericwhaley4397 I don't know how calculating Shawn was. He seemed like a petulant prima donna who only got away with all his BS because Vince liked him so much. I don't even know if the Kliq was his idea. We all know that Nash and HHH were also masters of politicking. I don't think Shawn was subtle enough to get by in any other promotion (probably why even WCW didn't want him)
Notice how the Mr. Perfect segment is longer than all the others. Perfect was the true professional, he took the best bumps, wrestled his ass off and showed the ultimate respect to the Hitman w/ a hand shake in defeat. He really was Perfect. I'm glad I had the honor to see him live once. Miss you Curt.
From what I have heard Bret say he also always really appreciated the professionalism and skill of Curt and cited him as one of the easiest wrestlers to work with.
This PPV is why Bret Hart is the greatest wrestler the WWF/E ever had. The match with Mr. Perfect is a cracking encounter. Nobody sold punishment like Hart. Three different matches in a single night, all of them believable.
Always feel like Bret Hart’s chest first bumps into the turnbuckle’s is massively underrated it looked great and it’s much more realistic than guys turning and going in back first
Bret said in one interview that he used to take that bump in honour of his opponent. He meant that to show respect for his opponent, he would make them look good by taking a big bump in the turnbuckle.
Funny enough, that came from a botch originally. I remember reading in Bret's book that one night Bret was so exhausted and his back hurt so much, he didn't spin around for the turnbuckle bump and took it in the chest. Apparently the bump got a huge reaction, thus he kept using it for the rest of his career. I'm actually surprised no one else uses the bump.
Right? Bret always made everything look real and legit unlike Shawn Michaels and Rick Flair, as great as they are, sometimes their selling looked farcical and ridiculous but entertaining nonetheless.
This king of the ring is a long-form story about how great Bret was and how he could work any match with anyone, and the three opponents he got on KOTR were all amazing. Razor was REALLY coming into his own as an athletic big guy with amazing power work. Hennig was the technical master that could match up with Hart PERFECTLY (you see what i did there?) and Bam Bam was the most agile big man in the world at the time, with a greet and exciting move set. This is my favorite tournament in wrestling history. Better than the two wwf title tournaments from 88 and 98. Especially for a one night tournament, this was really special.
That helps too. I've always said Hart Vs Perfect is the definition of what wrestling should be. This match is better than their Summerslam bout a few years prior. Razor and Bigelow are great workers too and matched well with Bret. Having said that, Bret can make anybody look good. Ever heard of Tom McGee??
Always had the same thoughts about Bam Bam. Big guy, athletic, amazing look, and a guy who always played ball (putting over LT at WM XI, etc). He could have been a major star... Then I heard him do a promo and... Oh, now it makes sense (what exactly is "ho-bility"?) He just couldn't talk; that was the missing piece with him.
@@Tweet_Wrestling yep, it sure did, I loved that time man... This is a debate for another time, but Bret's character's slide coincided with Austin's rise - the white-meat babyface or the cussing anti-authority badass - you can't have both leading you because they are the antithesis of each other
@@jermaineivey4699 it was like a light switch. One similar to being able to swear in front of your parents. The idea of swearing was cool when it was banned but once lifted you got fed up of it after a while. Austin was great I’ll give him credit
Hulk Hogan could never beat Bret Hart in an actual wrestling match. The king of the ring 1993 shows what Bret can do with multiple wrestlers. The true king of kings.
@Chuck Haggert and a great amateur wrestler. That’s the thing about the old wrestlers. If you couldn’t shoot wrestle they would tell the promoter and the promoter would know the guy didn’t have the respect of the boys, and if you didn’t have the respect of the boys you wouldn’t get booked to be champion.
Brett wanted to submit Hogan with a sharpshooter. Did Brett ever say he was willing to take the leg drop? When did Hogan beat Brett? Hogan pinned Yokozuna. Brett Hart lost to Yokozuna. Hogan owed Hart nothing.
Bret was great and could make his opponent look like a million dollars. King of the Ring was great, 3 completely different matches, 3 different stories told in the ring and all great. Hard to judge, but for impact, I think his match against Austin was the best, it helped launch the greatest draw in WWE’s history. Austin would have got there by himself, but that match showed to everyone that Austin was a maineventer.
@Chuck Haggert both guys were great, shame Michaels nor Bret got to do a program with Savage, i think it could have turned the business around and would have given Bret and Shawn that push they needed from someone big. Bret and Shawn never had good heels to work with. Never understood why Hogan never out people over, he had got to the stage where he was bullet proof.
Depends on what youre talking about. Bret could outwrestle Hogan, but the crowd would be behind Hogan. Hogan not wrestling Hart at SS93 was more about protecting the Hogan character for the future. Having his last major WWF match as a controversial world title loss protects the character a lot more than letting Bret win clean which is the only way to pass a torch. Hogan holding the WCW title has less impact if the WWF champion has a clean win over him.
Bret: I can beat you and still put you over, in fact the people would probably love you even more. Hulk: I can beat you, hulk up and make just myself look good.
No Sneezing. Ive been a stagehand since 2001 and worked many wwe and a few tna shows in in hometown. Everything from modern smackdown size shows to bare minimum house shows with A third a Semi truck and 1 road guy, often it was Charles ronbisnson on the house shows. Even the biggest most impressive wrestler didn't demand the respect Vince does, i miss the old days tho, the wrestlers & the crew used go sit at the same tables for catering.
Tna was probably the most memorable of recent tho. Unbroken eye contact with Hogan when i went into catering that night, it was just him and brooke in there at that moment. Stood behind her behind in line for grub lol.
@Tiger indeed. I'm pretty far removed as a local Union stagehand but working for the WWE over 2030 times many times running spotlight occasion Lee doing deckhand during the shows a lot of them have blended together over the years.
@Tiger A long time ago when Taz was fairly new to the show The wrestlers and hands were eating lunch break together in catering and cena came in and sat down and Literally devoured a 8 inch high 13 inch round double fudge cake in literally 4 mouthfuls lol. Twas impressive. Last time I remember talking to Jericho he was whining about not being able to find the masseuse. Damn that had to be 10, 15 years ago now
@Tiger I've been around many a list celebrity and TV and movie stars many times throughout my years but those 10 or 20 seconds of having uninterrupted eye contact with Hogan as he said at around pedestal table in the catering that night on Tna is something I will never forget. If you look up tna Louisville Kentucky that is the show. And pretty sure they only come here once. It was when the main event mafia had Rampage as part of the group. I am a huge imamate fan and 2 things I did know about rampage one he smokes marble lights too he likes high price Asian hookers, 3 of them followed him round allll day lol Can't remember who but the Dudley Boyz through someone in the back of a pickup truck during that same show that pickup truck belonged to one of my coworkers. P.s. brooke hogans Body in person. Superrrrr bangable
My dream match is this Bret hart vs. Kurt angle from 2001 king of the ring (I know he won it in 2000, I just prefer 01 kurt angle), and the hitman wins after another classic performance by both men.
@Chuck Haggert awesome matches Bret Hart with three different wrestlers I know Scott Hall gets a lot of flack because of the booze but Bret said Razor went out of his way in that match
Bret Hart wrestled three different wrestlers and had three awesome matches and the man himself regarded Bam Bam Bigelow as the best big man he wrestled and and speak for itself they gelled, as with Mr Perfect and Razor Ramon the same as well
They all knew when they got out of a PPV a match with Hart that they just wrestled in one of their career highlight matches. He brought the best out of everybody. I watched Hart wrestle ringside many times mid-to-late 80s and he was a masterclass. Him and Dynamite brought vicious realism to the ring. You really believed they were suffering.
Bret vs Perfect was an incredible match. One of my favourites ever. I never understood why Vince didn't keep the world title on Bret all the time. He was clearly better than everybody else.
@Black Boy King TV not exactly. Dont forget the undercard was garbage men, clowns, and men on a mission tag matches. People generally don't go to see one match.
King of The Ring 1993 was easily the best of this series of PPVs, it's a shame none where ever as good as this one and it never became a true star making PPV. Most of its winners wouldn't go on to be top stars until at least two years after they won the tournament and some would just fade into obscurity after winning.
A very significant PPV and when look back where WWF was during that period right off the heels of Bret Hart WWF title run, Hogan took the belt at Wrestlemania and he didn't defended the title until King of the Ring show. And Bret Hart was left down in the cold, he was just a main eventer but WWF wanted go back to Hogan. And if you look back how this all came together people felt that this PPV to appease Bret Hart. Basically to give Bret something to keep his status strong in the company while they did other things with Hogan, Luger and Yoko. And he was the obvious favorite to win right from the start and doesn't need to qualify because he got robbed after Wrestlemania 9. And it's a showcase to saying to Hulk Hogan i'm better with you
@@fattiger6957 Edge was midcard before he won KOTR and would remain in the midcard for another 3 years after he won. It wasn’t until his heel turn in 2004 he became a top star. Kurt Angle was destroyed by the Undertaker in his next PPV appearance and was essentially the Honky Tonk Man in his first WWF title reign. Cheap heel wins and almost consistent losses when the belt wasn’t on the line. Austin I can agree with to an extent. Yes it was the birth of the Austin 3:16 character, but in his next 3 PPV appearances he was in a shitty midcard match with Marc Mero, the preshow match with Yokozuna and the opening round match with Triple H. It wasn’t until Survivor Series and the start of his feud with Bret Hart he really started to take off. As for Brock Lesnar, he was given a main event push almost immediately and would be gone in less than 2 years, he was nowhere near the star he would become when he returned to the WWE.
@@anthonyteague1067 what phrase? The one I used? It means that at the time we didn’t appreciate how amazing he was. It’s not that hard to understand (if that’s what you’re talking about).
Definitely the best king of the ring PPV for me!! Bret on a proper mission and razor, perfect and bam bam more than held there own and proper made Bret for me
Your eye for detail is always appreciated. I'll never forget those bumbs that Perfect sold with the leg kicks still to this day. Perfect also delivers the most perfect drop kick in the business..
@@oliverglenday7382 There is so many dream matches Bret could of had in 99/00..... Angle Shamrock HHH Jericho Benoit Guerrero Edge RVD Lance storm Jeff hardy
If only had charisma and was actually good at promos…not taking a shot at Bret but man if he had HBK’s charisma….the wrestling landscape would be totally different today
@@Tom-bi4cihe had charisma in his own way. Just cuz he wasnt shaking bis ass like a male stripper with chaps on doesn't mean he didn't have charisma. His heel promos in 1997 were excellent.
@@jameswarner5878 i hear it everywhere now! I hear it on espn, on mma videos. It’s wild. And their channel doesn’t even have a ton of subscribers, i don’t know how that caught on so big.
Nobody was in Hogan's league. Everyone was far ahead of him. Hogan was an entrance, 3 punches, big boot, leg drop, hand behind the ear, close the show. The reason he lasted so long was because he could work the crowd so I will give him that. And only that.
@@InkWarrior worst thing is when you see his earlier work for Vince Snr. in the WWWF or from when he's in Japan, he can clearly work and is capable of putting on good technical matches. He just got lazy when he was in the WWF, he was on top so there was no need to put in the effort...
@@ArchangelSteve exactly! It's like he realized that going off emotion (waving the American flag) and little actual ring work will get you farther than breaking your body to tell a story. Rinse repeat for 3 more years and he's getting booed in WCW where he had to reinvent himself with the nWo.
MORE BRET! Those are stories for another time! Stories you better be telling, BROTHER! But seriously, i’ve been watching a long time, Ryan. Your content has gone from good to great to the best wrestling channel on RU-vid. I was so happy for you when i saw how successful Reliving the War was and how many new viewers and subscribers it brought to your channel. You deserve all the success you’ve gotten and i really look forward to more Bret stories on your channel. I know i’m just one man, but i’d also love to see some more on Hall and Nash in WCW, their antics over the course of 97-99 is some of the most fun stuff to ever come out of wrestling, and they were so over it was amazing.
Seconding the request for more Bret Hart! I can never get enough of him. Also seconding the praise for your channel, Ryan! Huge longtime fan here and super happy to see how much you're growing as well.
I love ric flair but I doubt he could wrestle 3 different matches in one night, ric could wrestle for an hour a night no problem he could never wrestle those 3 wrestlers to the standard that Bret did
I also put Bret ahead of Flair. Bret had his own gimmick. Flair plagiarised everything from buddy Rogers! The strut, the figure four, the gimmick and the nickname “the nature boy”. You only get so many points for copying.
A2000 he did your quite correct I've watched those matches and I'll stand by what I said I doubt whether Ric Flair could wrestle 3 different not three matches in one night, Flair is legendary for his stamina and ability to wrestle for an hour a night
@@brianticas7671Hmmmm. Flair is very underrated when it comes to his versatility but I do get what you're saying though. I could recommend a few matches that show a different style from Flair, that's if you haven't seen these matches already.
I dont think vince was ever really sold on bret. After the steroid scandal they couldn't use the muscle bound super heroes from before so they needed someone. Hart beating flair at a house show and not pay per view is a good indication that it was a test run. Then he had hogan coming back but by this point they painted bret as the most fighting wwf champion as he defended the title more than previous champions so they had to make a call where bret still looked good but hogan be made the champ. Then he tried to push lex lugar like soo freaking hard but fans still preferred bret. Then he laid eyes on the size of kevin nash but kevin wasnt very able in the ring so incase he didnt work out they sill needed bret to look good so the hellen hart towel throw happened. Kevin became champ bret continued to feud with owen. Once they realised that the money wasnt coming in with kevin they flipped it back to bret but even so by then they decided to make shawn the new guy. He wasnt big but he was good looking young and single meaning they had a guy that women would love to watch who had no wife at home so he could stay on the road and draw in the house. Unfortunately people seemed to prefer shawn chasing the title and not soo much him having it. Shawn traded the title with psycho sid before losing his smile. By this time bret was back after a hiatus but upset Vince by having lunch with eric bishoff. Vince also took notice of stone cold popularity and the crowd support the character had. After shawn vacated the title they put it on bret again ( for what should have been a historic reign as only hogan had won the WWF title that many times before) only to give it to sid yet again the following night on raw because vince wanted a taker and sid match at wrestlemania. Bret eventually got the belt back from undertaker but as a heel this time with the canada vs america angle. Vince could no longer honor the contract he signed with bret by quoting financial peril but a few months later spent a hefty sum to have mike tyson in wrestlemania 14. It almost seems like vince wanted to sabotage bret by having him turn on the american fans for him entertaining the idea of going to wcw. By doing this the old hitman couldn't come back to his spot as a face.
Bret and Curt are the type of wrestler that everyone should aspire to. They didn't have an over the top gimmick. Their matches made sense and stand up against anything today.
This will forever be my favourite PPV of all time. The clinic that Bret (and Hennig in their match) put on remains unrivalled still today and I'm certain it will always be. And the Hart-Hennig rematch was just ... perfect!
Not really. Hart didn't lose anything by not beating Hogan. Hogan would have a lot to lose by losing to Bret. It would be different if Hogan beat Hart at WM9.
Someone please take me back to 1990. I was too young to fully appreciate what i was witnessing. I loved every second of it.. However, i took it for granted. I was witnessing wrestling legends turn almost Mythical. Another fantastic video my friend. You've never let me down. I click that like button before I've even clicked play.
What I love about Bret's work is even during rest holds or submission holds, he's constantly working the body part. Always cranking, punching and kicking the body part he's working on. Everything makes sense and everything is so enthralling.
My favorite Bret Hart's move is the Russian Leg Sweep. He just looks so cool executing that move. Also, his roll to pin Bam Bam was a moment I remembered, and I thought to myself how brilliant that move was because it was the first time I have seen anything like that. After a gruesome tournament, being trashed by Jerry Lawler made me "hate" Lawler a lot, before I came to like him years later as a ring-side commentator with Jim Ross. I watched this tournament recorded on VHS and it has been the best ever PPV event for me. And also, wrestlers like Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect are what made the Intercontinental title and the King of the Ring title worthy and prestigious... then on till now, its just like... meh..
i love the Perfect Match, his outfit slowly starts falling apart just a symbol of an awesome match- the chemistry here is wonderful- I love The Hitman 💟
I remember all the boys being so pissed Hogan lost the belt. Hogan was still by far the most popular wrestler, no one even came close. Little did anyone actually know at the time that Hogan losing and leaving was the best thing to ever happen to wrestling. Setting up Hogan in WCW to eventually join the NWO and eventually getting guys like Bret and HBK to be the top WWF wrestlers. Hindsight is 20/20 and we can all see what should have been done earlier, but anyone who says that Hogan still wasn't over is a liar. The crowd popped for Hogan so much more than they did for Bret at WM9. Look at the crowd, there is more Hogan merchandise than Hart and Hogan was not the main event. And remember, Hogan winning the title at WM9 was to promote the rerun on Tuesday once people saw Hogan was champion on Raw.
I'm guessing you're a couple of years younger than I am. I was 13 in 1993 and our age group was moving on from Hogan. I'd say you are right that Hogan was still the most popular wrestler of the time but his schtick was getting old. Having him join the NWO was the smartest thing they ever did with him and I don't think a heel turn would have worked in WWF as well.
@@mikeriston2366 Yes, I was a few years younger than you in 1993. Bret Hart is my favorite wrestler of all time and I completely understand why he would be mad at Hogan for WM9. But it wasn't really Hogan, it was a pure business decision. Bret brought something to the WWF championship that we hadn't seen before, we saw the title on TV more than once a year. Hogan was really always the marketer and in 1993 WWF didn't need anymore marketing. It was a double-edge sword to me though. While I enjoyed seeing the world title defended on Raw did people like 1-2-3 Kid really deserve a title match? When Hogan lost the belt and we saw the champion on TV more often the title lost some of its prestige. A common complaint from people is that titles mean so much less now because everyone gets a turn, but the same people who make that complaint seem to be pissed that every wrestler in the 80s/early 90s didn't get a run and were thus "underrated".
I've been watching wrestling since right after the very first WrestleMania, and Bret Hart had ALWAYS been consistent with his amazing performances. Whether as a member of The Hart Foundation or as a single, Bret was always one of my favorite wrestlers. I still enjoy watching his matches to this day. The KOTR '93 ppv is possibly his best performance, in my opinion and that's saying a lot!
I watched the hart vs perfect video yesterday & instantly thought of the perfect vs Hart Kotr 93. I’ve been watching hart’s best matches from 92-99 & the kotr 93 matches were a joy to watch
Thanks for giving the 93 King of the Ring a deep dive. This was such a beautiful example of in-ring storytelling and the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Bret Hart. I also have a Ringside Collectables exclusive figure of Bret from 93 King of the Ring.
I have very fond memories of this event. This was around the time when I became a Wrestling Fan back in the days. I bought my first copy of the WWF magazine around that time as well and I can remember very well that it included an article that was hyping the Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan Match at SummerSlam. I was very disappointed when it ended up being Bret Hart vs Doink and Jerry Lawler. And then Bret basically being used as a Midcard Wrestler up until early 1994. And it would happen to him again in 1995. There is always so much talk about how WCW wasnt utilizing Bret the right way, but I feel like the WWF at times wasnt so much better. Somebody has to explain to me what was going on in 1995. Bret should have been at least in the main even picture, but instead he was in the midcard again with no titel shots. Anyway, King of the Ring 93 was kind of his masterpiece in my opinion.
He was still a main eventer after Summerslam the fans are still getting behind him. And even he won the WWF title to face Ric Flair in October 92. The start in the New Generation Era by this point
I remember renting the king of the ring 1993 a bunch of times from blockbuster video. Not because of the non king of the ring matches or the wwf title match. But because of the three matches that bret hart had at the king of the ring. Those matches were good and you had three different wrestling styles and matches and that's what made it good.
I was a huge Mr. Perfect fan as a kid, and it almost bothered how his right shoulder was clearly a mile off the mat in the finish of the Bret match. Lol.
3 matches in this event, 2 matches at summerlsam 93, tag match and winning the royal rumble at 94 and 2 matches at mania 10 while winning the world title. That is carrying the company on your back.
This PPV was and is my all time favorite because of Bret. I was like 10 years old. Bret made me believe he took a beating that night. He was that great in the ring. Those three matches were amazing. Especially against Perfect, that match is probably my favorite of all time
Mr. Wrestling bio. First and foremost 100% love all of your content I cannot ever get enough of it. But I have to say that first match with Bret Hart and Razor Ramon where razor is dropping several elbows did not look cheesy or imitation at all. Just my opinion and I know at the end of the day that is exactly what you want from your subscribers keep up the good work brother!
2021 and yet, most members of the IWC still think small guys cannot draw or get over. Guess they all forgot or just ignore the contributions of Bret, Owen, Benoit, Guerrero and Bryan. Bret especially should be commended for his amazing in ring work. He put 3 great matches in one night.
I remember quite vividly buying this on VHS at some random Antique thrift store 20+ years ago. This was the very first WWF ppv tape I bought, however whenever I first watch this video I thought it sucked but now it has grown on me and I think the ppv was an instant classic!
